​On a recent conference call of the FCNE Research Committee, someone mentioned that although most of us had academic connections that gave us access to academic libraries and all sorts of journals, that probably the vast majority of Faith Community Nurses did not have such access.That prompted me to try a few searches for research articles outside my normal access to our university library. I was able to discover article abstracts, but many required that I pay a fee (between $5-10), and it supported the difficulty that the average Faith Community Nurse may have in getting full access to research articles.

Journals associated with a membership organization can provide direct access to journals. For example, Faith Community Nursing International provides the Journal of Faith Community Nursing as a benefit of membership. As another example, the American Public Health Association membership grants full access to the American Journal of Public Health and The Nation’s Health, their newsletter. Although not limited to Faith Community topics, many of the articles in these issues support health promotion programming.

Open Access Journals are another option for finding research articles. Unlike traditional journals that charge subscriptions for access to articles, Open Access journals charge authors for the review of their papers. Most do use a peer review model, that is, a person knowledgeable in the field reviews the paper (for free, in my experience) and offers comments on the value of the article. Just as with traditional journals, articles are reviewed for overall quality, the quality of the research presented using standard assessments, and the judgment of whether the article provides new knowledge on the topic. Articles can be accepted, suggested for revisions, or rejected. Once accepted, the article is published openly on the internet with access to anyone. These journals have varying quality, so the reader must read critically. Articles associated with Digital Commons, including Journal of Faith Community Nursing have the advantage of being Open Access but also of being associate with recognized university repositories.Science Direct has a list of open access journals sponsored by Elsevier, a major publisher. Alzheimer’s & Dementia: Translational Research & Clinical Interventions is one. A recent issue has a paper on Patients’ and caregivers’ views on conversations and shared decision making in diagnostic testing for Alzheimer’s disease: The ABIDE project (Kunneman et al., 2017). A funded interview project, it interviewed patients and families about their decision making about testing and found that both groups were driven by a need for information. Most anticipated the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease and were looking for an explanation of symptoms. Caregivers, in particular, sought more information about stages and future expectations. They also sought a longer time to discuss implications with a provider and the paper suggested this to be a good role for nursing. What better nursing preparation for this difficult set of conversations than a faith community nurse who is prepared to discuss meaning and spirituality? This las comment is extrapolated beyond the paper itself!

The Journal of Primary Care and Community Health is an open access journal published by Sage. A recent issue has an article on Bone Health with resources to support screening, use of vitamin D and advice on medication (Lawrence, Grotzke, Rosenblum, Nelson, La Fleur, Miller, Ma, & Cannon, 2017). Another article addresses use of health centers by persons with chronic diseases. This paper might be of interest to a community with Medicaid eligible people.Another open access option is the Public Library of Science (PLOS). It has a focus on science, technology and medicine, but that is defined broadly. One recently posted article focused on increasing weight between pregnancies as a risk factor for gestational diabetes (Sorbye, Skhaerven, Klunsoyer & Morken, 2017).

Resources in spirituality can also be found outside a university library system. Looking for topics on Google will uncover useful articles such as one on the role of spirituality in health care, particularly with the dying (Pulchaski, 2001). Although taken from a perspective of a physician, the truths are there for nurses as well.

The Research Committee for Faith Community Nurses International supports all faith community nurses in accessing resources to enrich their practice. We will have a blog associated with this article, so please check in when you find resources that were helpful to you.